One-pot synthesis of N-doped carbon intercalated molybdenum disulfide nanohybrid for enhanced adsorption of tetracycline from aqueous solutions

Abstract Nitrogen-doped carbon intercalated molybdenum disulfide nanohybrid (NC-MoS2) with well-interconnected nanosheets was successfully fabricated using a one-pot hydrothermal method and applied as a novel adsorbent to remove tetracycline (TC) from aqueous solutions. Series material characterizations indicated that the intercalation of nitrogen-doped carbon into MoS2 nanosheets could produce widened interlayer spacing, enlarge the specific surface area and create more extensive functional groups. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms investigations revealed that the pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir isotherm model could fit well the TC adsorption behavior of NC-MoS2. Particularly, NC-MoS2 possessed a high maximum adsorption capacity (1128.4 mg/g) that was approximately 2.8 times that of pristine MoS2 (409.84 mg/g) at 308 K and pH = 6.0 ± 0.1. Furthermore, the relevant thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. The adsorption process was dependent on multiple interactions including hydrophobicity, π-π stacking interaction and hydrogen bond. These findings demonstrated that NC-MoS2 had potential applications for treating TC-containing water and broadened the application of metal sulfides in the environmental field.